Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Who won our October blog giveaway! Vickie will receive the Textured Teardrop Hoop Earrings from Pennee Parker of All Wired Up Jewelry Designs.Sincere gratitude to our featured artist Pennee who give such beautiful metal clay earrings as prize. Thanks to all of you who entered the giveaway! We will have one more blog giveaway before the holidays come. Please stay tuned!

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Our featured artist of the month is Pennee Parker of All Wired Up Jewelry Designs. Pennee loves to try any and all techniques. She has never met a stone she didn't adore. Her number one inspiration for a design concept is the colors in nature.
She loves bright rich hues coupled with smooth lines bringing out the beauty in both.

What is the biggest mistake you've ever made? What did you learn from it?
The biggest mistake- pictures attached! I have made pendants using
classic metalsmithing techniques. I wanted to try it with metal
clay. I really wanted to have a super pendant with both sides textured. I read Lisa Barth's "Designing from the Stone" and was inspired! I
read PMC Technïque", I thought I could solve all problems associated with
shrinkage and setting a stone after firing. How wrong could any one
artist be?? As you can see from the pictures this was no small mistake. So much sterling metal clay went into that pendant and it was a
disaster! With loads of ideas and assistance from my metal clay groups, I
was able to salvage the pendant so that it wasn't a total disaster. Also, the pendant wasn't one I would ever sell. I kept it to remind myself to
go slow and really think out each step and that not only was I able to save it but I liked the end result.

When did you first become interested in Metal Clay? How long have you been designing jewelry using Metal Clay?
I became interested in metal clay when I started selling on Etsy. When I did searches looking at various artists work, I was drawn
to all the beautiful patterns and textures I saw being done in clay. I
took one class at my local community college and I was hooked. That was 4
years ago, now I can't wait to take a Rio certification class to get to
the next level.

What inspires you?
What inspires me? I don't think I am very different from any other
artist when it comes to inspiration. I love to travel and I am always
drawn to the wonderful architecture I see in foreign countries. I love
all things involving nature, flowers, plants and trees. Everything
around me seems to produce another texture, shape or style variation.

Would you tell us your creative process?
My creative process is not one I would recommend to anyone. I can't
draw worth a lick. I am so envious of artists that can put something on
paper and then produce it in metal. I see my idea vividly in my mind. With
clay, if what I see isn't what's coming out, I either roll it back into a
ball and start over or look at it from a different perspective and I
may make something entirely different from my original idea but one that
was lurking there possibly waiting for another day. I will say, I am
very focused. Once I begin work it's really hard to distract me from
the flow. My family will tell you I am the master of 20 minute
meals. When they finally distract me long enough to demand food!

Why did you pick the name All Wired Up Jewelry Designs?
All Wired Up Jewelry Designs is probably not very original, but I
started as a wire artist and continued to use wire in metal work. Many
people would say I have a Type A personality, I pretty much stay wired up for most of the day. So to me the name suits me. I'm not sure my shop
name always fits my style of jewelry, but so many customers know the
name that it would be hard to change it even if I wanted to.

Why did you design the giveaway piece? What is special about your giveaway piece?
I love earrings! Depending on my mood, I just can't have enough pairs to pick
and choose from. I got some new textures and
decided I wanted to do a line of new earrings. Hoop style in different
sizes and patterns to add to my shop. Because they are new to my shop,
light weight and easy to wear, I thought they would make a great give
away for our blog. Visit Pennee here

What are the major challenges when creating metal clay jewelry?
My vision with clay is setting
stones in amazing 3-dimensional shapes and forms. I find this so
difficult with faceted stones since shrinkage is such a major factor.
The stone looks perfect when the clay dries- table level, lots of
sparkle, just the right amount of clay to hold the stone or stones in
place. Then I fire and sometimes the clay fairy smiles on me and
sometimes she laughs and tilts my stone to some weird, absolutely
inappropriate angle and I sigh and start again!To enter our blog giveaway please follow these
rules:

Every person is eligible to enter the blog giveaway with up to FOUR (4)
entries. How can you get an entry?You can do any of the following and
then let us know that by leaving a comment under this feature so we can
keep track.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Congrats to Susan who will receive the beautiful Scalloped PMC Pendant created by Harriet of HGWjewelrydesigns. The Scalloped PMC Pendant has an intricate pattern and is adorned with a 3mm CZ in
the middle.

Thanks to Harriet who giveaway one of her amazing work! Thanks to all your support and don't forget to follow us to get the inside scope of metal clay!

Fan-fiction Challenge Poll

Team Challenges

Every quarter we have a Team Challenge, meant to stimulate our creativity. The entries are submitted for vote and the winner gets bragging rights, a photo of their piece on the blog's banner. In addition, they issue the next challenge.

To view past challenges, click here or search the blog for the word "challenge".